"Robin Mayes" wrote in message ...
"Boltar" wrote in message
om...

Given that I'm an engineer by trade whose worked on machinary thats a
*teensy*
bit complex than the glorified conveyor belts known as escalators I think
I
have half a clue about how complex they are to fix - ie not very. But in
good
old british tradition we keep getting spin about how they're so damn
complex
it takes months to fix and so bloody forth. Bull****. They're about as
simple
a bit of machinary as you can find, the REAL reason is LU and their sub
contractors couldn't organise a proverbial ****-up with less than 6 months
advanced notice.

Oh that'd be fun, wouldn't it, having contactors working between a machine
they're taking apart and one running! Grinding machines might just play
havoc with the fire alarm systems, bringing in steps and metal panels would
sure please the insurers too!

Wtf are you talking about?

Take apart escalator and shipping to factory - 1 week approx.

Refurbish and test at factory, well lets be kind and say 3 weeks.

Ship back to staton, rebuild and test - 2 weeks.

Thats 6 weeks and I've been pretty generous with the time. What exactly do they
do with the other 4.5 months out of the 6 it generally takes themn to fix these
things??

B2003

On 16 Dec 2003 07:43:04 -0800, (Boltar) wrote:

Take apart escalator and shipping to factory - 1 week approx.

Refurbish and test at factory, well lets be kind and say 3 weeks.

Ship back to staton, rebuild and test - 2 weeks.

Thats 6 weeks and I've been pretty generous with the time. What exactly do they
do with the other 4.5 months out of the 6 it generally takes themn to fix these
things??

Right...Now schedule that for the 4 or so hours a night that you can
actually do the work (i.e. when the station is closed to passengers) and
add in the fact that escalators are custom built for each site,
nominally at a 30 degree angle though I believe there's one station on
the Northern Line with an incline of 23 and a bit degrees.

There's also the small matter of them needing to run for the best part
of 20 hours a day, 364 days a year and carry around 13000 passengers an
hour, unlike your average department store escalator.

HTH,

Barry

--
Barry Salter, barry at southie dot me dot uk
Read uk.* newsgroups? Read uk.net.news.announce!

DISCLAIMER: The above comments do not necessarily represent the
views of my employers.

Barry Salter wrote in message . ..
On 16 Dec 2003 07:43:04 -0800, (Boltar) wrote:

Take apart escalator and shipping to factory - 1 week approx.

Refurbish and test at factory, well lets be kind and say 3 weeks.

Ship back to staton, rebuild and test - 2 weeks.

Thats 6 weeks and I've been pretty generous with the time. What exactly do they
do with the other 4.5 months out of the 6 it generally takes themn to fix these
things??

Right...Now schedule that for the 4 or so hours a night that you can
actually do the work (i.e. when the station is closed to passengers) and
add in the fact that escalators are custom built for each site,
nominally at a 30 degree angle though I believe there's one station on
the Northern Line with an incline of 23 and a bit degrees.

So what? Will they get vertigo if it goes over a certain inclination? And
if they're limited to nights only why do they build these massive hordings
around them and (very occasionally admittedly , don't want to stop their
tea break) work during the day??


There's also the small matter of them needing to run for the best part
of 20 hours a day, 364 days a year and carry around 13000 passengers an
hour, unlike your average department store escalator.

*yawn* Big ****ing deal, heard this BS 101 times before. You could say the
same thing about the trains. But it doesn't take 6 months to fix one of them
when they go wrong does it?! And they're probably 100 times more complex.
Please stop spouting the party line , it gets very tedious.

B2003

"Boltar" wrote in message
om...

*yawn* Big ****ing deal, heard this BS 101 times before. You could say the
same thing about the trains. But it doesn't take 6 months to fix one of
them
when they go wrong does it?! And they're probably 100 times more complex.
Please stop spouting the party line , it gets very tedious.

Of course you couldn't compare the two! Trains don't get refurbished
anywhere near the general public was wander around, there's far easier
access and no fire alarms to contend with for starters. BTW, do you actually
know the turn round time for a refurbished train?

"Barry Salter" wrote in message
...
On 16 Dec 2003 07:43:04 -0800, (Boltar) wrote:

Take apart escalator and shipping to factory - 1 week approx.

Refurbish and test at factory, well lets be kind and say 3 weeks.

Ship back to staton, rebuild and test - 2 weeks.

Thats 6 weeks and I've been pretty generous with the time. What exactly do
they
do with the other 4.5 months out of the 6 it generally takes themn to fix
these
things??

Right...Now schedule that for the 4 or so hours a night that you can
actually do the work (i.e. when the station is closed to passengers) and
add in the fact that escalators are custom built for each site,
nominally at a 30 degree angle though I believe there's one station on
the Northern Line with an incline of 23 and a bit degrees.

There's also the small matter of them needing to run for the best part
of 20 hours a day, 364 days a year and carry around 13000 passengers an
hour, unlike your average department store escalator.

I think it would be better if LU just closed a station completely for a month
and did all the escalators there in one big lot rather than causing years of
disruption.

Peter Smyth

"Peter Smyth" wrote in message
...

I think it would be better if LU just closed a station completely for a
month
and did all the escalators there in one big lot rather than causing years
of
disruption.

At the smaller, less busy, stations, I'd agree. However, closures of
stations such as Liverpool Street, Victoria, Euston and Bank would affect
too many people and affect the stations adjacent too much.

In article , Barry Salter
writes
nominally at a 30 degree angle though I believe there's one station on
the Northern Line with an incline of 23 and a bit degrees.

There are several escalators at 26 degrees 23 minutes (4 in 9 climb
instead of 1 in 2).

They are at Baker Street (2), Earl's Court (2), Embankment (4), Kilburn
Park (2), Liverpool Street (3), Maida Vale (2), Oxford Circus (3),
Paddington (2), and Warwick Avenue (2). Further details on my web site.

--
Clive D.W. Feather, writing for himself | Home:
Tel: +44 20 8371 1138 (work) | Web: http://www.davros.org
Fax: +44 870 051 9937 | Work:
Written on my laptop; please observe the Reply-To address

There's also the small matter of them needing to run for the
best part
of 20 hours a day, 364 days a year and carry around 13000
passengers an
hour, unlike your average department store escalator.

HTH,

Barry


I think that's where we came in. The Tottenham Court Road
system of three escalators does not come close to a 364 day
average.

And I sure that that they were also out of action in previous
years (2001 or 2002 or both) in the run up to Christmas.

Gordo
--
This is not my sig nature.....
gordo AT loop zilla.org.......
http://www.loopzilla.org/.....

"Boltar" wrote in message
om...

Wtf are you talking about?


My sentiments exactly!

Take apart escalator and shipping to factory - 1 week approx.


How exactly are you going to take apart an escalator, with another machine
in operation for 20 hours a day just inches away from you? Don't forget
there are fire alarm cables, pipes and sensors running all around the
machinery which wouldn't be able to be isolated during the time the station
is open. Where are you going to store all these parts your engineers are
removing, there's hardly enough space in stations as it is!

Refurbish and test at factory, well lets be kind and say 3 weeks.

How exactly are you going to test a new escalator without it being in the
shaft it's been designed for?

Ship back to staton, rebuild and test - 2 weeks.

See the first part.

Thats 6 weeks and I've been pretty generous with the time. What exactly do
they
do with the other 4.5 months out of the 6 it generally takes themn to fix
these
things??

If you really think you can deliver as stated above, it would seem you're
wasted doing the job you do and you'd be able to make a massive profit
bidding for contracts for escalator refurbishment by being able to undercut
bids from the likes of Kone and Otis!

"Robin Mayes" wrote in message ...
"Boltar" wrote in message
om...
How exactly are you going to take apart an escalator, with another machine
in operation for 20 hours a day just inches away from you? Don't forget
there are fire alarm cables, pipes and sensors running all around the
machinery which wouldn't be able to be isolated during the time the station
is open. Where are you going to store all these parts your engineers are
removing, there's hardly enough space in stations as it is!

I gave them roughly a week to take it apart. I think thats long enough to
remove a load of steps and other assorted pieces don't you?


Refurbish and test at factory, well lets be kind and say 3 weeks.

How exactly are you going to test a new escalator without it being in the
shaft it's been designed for?

Err , you test each individual bit. How do you think any large piece of
machinary is tested? You think they build a special shaft for lifts and test
run them in the factory before they install them in a skyscraper?

If you really think you can deliver as stated above, it would seem you're
wasted doing the job you do and you'd be able to make a massive profit
bidding for contracts for escalator refurbishment by being able to undercut
bids from the likes of Kone and Otis!

Oh here we go , they standard issue "if you think you can do better why don't
you try". Yeah , I'll just go get a grant for a few hundred million to set
up my own factory. Meanwhile , back in the real world I would suggest that
the reason they take so long to fix is that LU gives them all the time in the
world to get it done , so consequently they don't bother to work hard.

B2003